Sunday, June 05, 2005

The link above include a Dubai Police response, and the US embassy comments. It also includes a roundup of links of Gulf country responses to the US State Department report on human trafficking.

---QUOTE---Another senior official from the [Dubai Police] department said he questioned where the information was sourced. “We do our best to eliminate trafficking. We push for these women to be treated as victims, not criminals in the courts and at immigration.” He said it was difficult work because many women had no documents and others claimed to be forced into prostitution to escape jail terms for overstaying or criminal activity. The official said “about 50-60 women” were repatriated every month. He said most women working in the sex industry here were not being forced. “There are very few genuine victims of human trafficking. Many of them came to work as prostitutes and have saved enough money to go home [when they report to immigration or police].”---UNQUOTE---